Smoothwall Filter
100% real-time Cloud Filter , all of the time. Protecting students at school, home and everywhere in between. Provides 100% real-time, content-aware filtering without the complexity of man-in-the-middle decryption, certificates or exceptions. Detects harmful or malicious content that is hidden, including behind Secure Socket Layer (SSL) and secure anonymous proxies.
Features
- 100% real-time, content-aware filtering without man-in-the-middle decryption
Benefits
- Cloud means Fast install and no single point of failure
Pricing
- Education pricing available
- Free trial available
Service documents
Request an accessible format
Framework
G-Cloud 15
Service ID
6 2 5 0 3 7 6 2 1 8 0 9 9 9 0
Contact
SOFTCAT PLC
Public Sector Tenders
Telephone: 01628 403403
Email: psitq@softcat.com
About your service
- Service categories
-
Applications
Production and operations
- Other operations
Service industry and public sector operations
- Education
- Other
- Multi cloud support
- No
Service scope
- Software add-on or extension
- No
- Cloud deployment model
- Public cloud
- Service constraints
- To ensure optimal performance, devices must meet minimum hardware requirements—specifically regarding CPU speed and available RAM.
- System requirements
-
- Ram - You would need 4gb as a minimum
- CPU - Dual core Processor
User support
- Email or online ticketing support
- Yes
- Support response times
-
Weekend via oncall (from 00:00 Saturday - 08:80 Monday).Urgent P1's only - P1 SLA = 1 Hour first response , 1 business day resolution.
Weekday Service Levels
Priority InitialResponse TargetRestoration ApplicableHours
P1 – Urgent <60 mins <1 BusinessDay M-F 8:30 to 17:00
P2 – High <2 BusinessHours <2 BusinessDays M-F 8:30 to 17:00
P3 – Normal <4 BusinessHours <5 BusinessDays M-F 8:30 to 17:00
P4 – ServiceRequest N/A N/A M-F 8:30 to 17:00
RootCauseAnalysis N/A N/A M-F 8:30 to 17:00
ProblemTicket N/A N/A M-F 8:30 to 17:00 - User can manage status and priority of support tickets
- Yes
- Online ticketing support accessibility
- WCAG 2.2 AA
- Phone support
- Yes
- Phone support availability
- 9 to 5 (UK time), Monday to Friday
- Web chat support
- Yes
- Web chat support availability
- 9 to 5 (UK time), Monday to Friday
- Web chat support accessibility standard
- WCAG 2.2 AA
- Web chat accessibility testing
- Due to the fact that the Zen Desk system we use for all support functions meets with WCAG 2.2 there has not currently been a need to investigate independently from this. We would look to do this in future, if required.
- Onsite support
- Yes, at extra cost
- Support levels
-
"As standard we offer our dedicated Smoothwall web portal to log support calls, a chat function during highlighted hours and telephone access for P1's. All of these services are included within your licence.
Additional support can be purchased in the form of dedicated training or onsite installation. Should you wish to pay for an engineer to attend to visit you onsite for any form of troubleshooting, this is also a chargeable service.
Our dedicated Customer Success Team who work in partnership with our Technical Account Management Team and our Education team to provide ongoing support to our customers throughout the lifetime of their contract. This includes product training and awareness and ensuring latest product releases are shared to allow customers to get maximum value from our products and have a clear escalation path. " - Support available to third parties
- Yes
- AI chatbot
- No
Onboarding and offboarding
- Getting started
- Smoothwall's Customer Success Team take accountability for onboarding all new customers. Training is provided via different methods, depending on the profile of the organisation. For a single school, familiarisation training will typically happen during an installation and will be followed up by self-serve online training. For a Multi Academy Trust we would offer online training with one of our Dedicated trainers. Where relevant and specifically advised, we would also offer training with our Education and Training team. Smoothwall offers a robust knowledge base that enables customers to self-serve when looking for 'how to' information.
- Service documentation
- Yes
- Documentation formats
-
- HTML
- End-of-contract data extraction
- If you require an export of your filtering data after leaving, then we would have to open a support ticket and we will generate that report for you.
- End-of-contract process
- At the end of your contract you have the option to renew your Smoothwall licence or not. Should you wish to renew the Filtering provision, you will place an order and the licence end date will be updated. If you do not choose to renew, Smoothwall will work in partnership with you to offboard your account seamlessly, including supporting you with migrating appropriate data you may require and answering any questions you may have. The accountability to set up a new filtering provision is the responsibility of your new provider.
- Documentation accessibility standard
- None or don’t know
- How the documentation is accessible
- The Smoothwall Knowledge Base is an HTML web-based knowledge base hosted on Zendesk Help Centre. Zendesk’s default Copenhagen theme includes built-in accessibility features and is developed in alignment with WCAG 2.1 AA best practices.
Using the service
- Web browser interface
- Yes
- Supported browsers
-
- Microsoft Edge
- Chrome
- Application to install
- Yes
- Compatible operating systems
-
- Android
- IOS
- MacOS
- Windows
- ChromeOS
- Designed for use on mobile devices
- Yes
- Differences between the mobile and desktop service
- Smoothwall filtering on Android Phone is currently limited to URL-based filtering and does not support full dynamic content analysis or real-time page inspection.
- Service interface
- Yes
- User support accessibility
- None or don’t know
- Description of service interface
- Smoothwall Filter hosts an online Cloud Portal, allowing you to access your admin panel, view product licences and expiry dates, find your API directory key, find your UNCL or serial number and allow user emulation by the support team for cloud troubleshooting. You will also access your tenant management, directories, user groups, run your reports and manage day to day policies and access here. This is your central management hub for Filter.
- Accessibility standards
- None or don’t know
- Description of accessibility
- The web portal is designed with modern web standards, however has not currently been assessed formally against the accessibility standards noted above. This is to be addressed during 2026
- Accessibility testing
- We seek to perform testing of this nature in the future.
- API
- No
- Customisation available
- Yes
- Description of customisation
- Users are able to deploy filtering policies on a who, what, where, when, action basis, throughout the product. In addition to this, users can define their own web filtering policies and add their own custom categories. Users can run reports as they see fit, for multiple tenants if so desired and within the timeframe of their choosing.
Scaling
- Independence of resources
- Because Cloud Filter is deployed directly to individual devices, it eliminates any single point of failure and avoids scaling issues, as additional users leverage their own local computing resources rather than relying on a central server.
Analytics
- Service usage metrics
- Yes
- Metrics types
-
Smoothwall provide metrics from within the Filter itself. These reports are accessed via the Cloud Platform and include
Total Hits- The total number of filtered requests
Blocked Attempts
Safeguarding Events - The total number of requests classified as Safeguarding Events
Top Users at Risk- The top 10 users with the most Safeguarding Events
op 10 categories broken down by blocked and allowed
Top 10 Blocked Sites
Top 10 Allowed Sites
Top 10 Search Terms - The most common search terms
Safeguarding Events by Theme - The most common safeguarding themes by severity
Active Users by Day
Top 10 active users - Reporting types
- Real-time dashboards
- Resource tagging
- No
- FOCUS resource tagging
- No
Resellers
- Supplier type
- Reseller (no extras)
- Organisation whose services are being resold
- Smoothwall
Staff security
- Staff security clearance
- Conforms to BS7858:2019
- Government security clearance
- Security Clearance (SC)
Asset protection
- Knowledge of data storage and processing locations
- Yes
- Data storage and processing locations
- United Kingdom
- User control over data storage and processing locations
- No
- Datacentre security standards
- Managed by a third party
- Penetration testing frequency
- At least once a year
- Penetration testing approach
- ‘IT Health Check’ performed by a CREST-approved service provider
- Protecting data at rest
-
- Physical access control, complying with CSA CCM v4.0
- Physical access control, complying with SSAE-18 / ISAE 3402
- Encryption of all physical media
- Data sanitisation process
- Yes
- Equipment disposal approach
- A third-party destruction service
- Data sanitisation type
-
- Deleted data can’t be directly accessed / Cryptographic Erasure
- Data Erasure
- Explicit overwriting of storage before reallocation / Secure Erase
- Physical Destruction / Hardware containing data is completely destroyed
Data importing and exporting
- Data export approach
-
"Export/download Cloud Report data, sign in to Cloud Portal and select ‘Reports’.
‘Filter Reports tab’, you’ll see a table of previously generated reports, including the timestamp (when generated), by who, and their status.
‘Multi Tenant Filter ‘tab if you have access to Multi Tenant reports. This tab only includes reports where more than one tenant was selected to report on.
Alternatively, staff can download reports if you give them access to Cloud Reports.
Download from the Reports page
Select the link in the Download column to download the data as a CSV file.
" - Data export formats
- CSV
- Data import formats
- Other
- Other data import formats
- Data imports are not relevant for this product
Data-in-transit protection
- Data protection between buyer and supplier networks
- TLS (version 1.2 or above)
- Data protection within supplier network
- TLS (version 1.2 or above)
Availability and resilience
- Guaranteed availability
- Smoothwall’s published Support Agreement (SLA) defines support availability (Service Desk hours and severity-based out-of-hours coverage), rather than a guaranteed product uptime percentage. Service availability and incident history for cloud services can be viewed via Smoothwall’s public status page. No refunds are offered as standard for levels of availability.
- Approach to resilience
-
"Filter services are built in GCP, utilising scalable compute paradigms to ensure high availability. Furthermore, databases are geo-replicated across multiple datacentres to guarantee resilience against local physical failures.
All data is encrypted at rest." - Outage reporting
- Smoothwall provides a public status page and shares service report outage alerts via email.
Identity and authentication
- User authentication needed
- Yes
- User authentication
-
- Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA)
- Identity federation with existing provider (for example Google Apps)
- Username or password
- Access restrictions in management interfaces and support channels
-
"SSO with our corporate user directory (GWS).
Users must have a support portal account to raise a ticket. With no account they are referred to CSM for verification and the ticket is not raised. Users must always provide MDS and other identifiable information/ security questions. The Service Desk Team will check multiple verified internal systems to cross reference the information laid out. If the Service Desk Team has doubts the ticket isn’t logged and the CSM is alerted.
https://kb.smoothwall.com/hc/en-us/articles/360016783480-Sign-in-to-Smoothwall-through-your-Browser
" - Access restriction testing frequency
- At least every 6 months
- Management access authentication
-
- Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA)
- Identity federation with existing provider (for example Google Apps)
Audit information for users
- Access to user activity audit information
- Users have access to real-time audit information
- How long user audit data is stored for
- At least 12 months
- Access to supplier activity audit information
- Users contact the support team to get audit information
- How long supplier audit data is stored for
- At least 12 months
- How long system logs are stored for
- At least 12 months
Security governance
- Named board-level person responsible for service security
- Yes
- Security governance certified
- Yes
- Security governance standards
-
- ISO/IEC 27001
- Other
- Other security governance standards
-
"SOC2 Type II (All criteria)
NIST - CSF" - Information security policies and processes
-
"
Policies include but not limited to:
Acceptable Use Policy, User & Admin Account Policies, Risk Management Policy, Data Breach Policy, Data Classification and Retention Policy, Data Management Policy, Handling Information Rights (SAR) requests, Internal Data Protection Policy, Vulnerability Management Policy, Third Party/Vendor Management.
Policy adherence is ensured through a structured reporting framework: policy owners implement and maintain controls, team leads enforce compliance within their teams, and the ISMS/security team monitors adherence via audits, logs, and automated reports. Non-compliance is escalated to top management and the CISO, who review trends, approve corrective actions, and report outcomes during management reviews. " - Software Security Code of Practice
- Yes
Operational security
- Configuration and change management standard
- Complies with a recognised standard, for example CSA CCM v4.0 or SSAE-18 / ISAE 3402
- Configuration and change management approach
- Cloud components are managed through infrastructure as code, using version control, which ensures that configurations are managed and approved correctly. Changes to product features and functions go through an extensive product and engineering lifecycle to manage the requirements, how they are built, how they are communicated and made available to customers - covering product, engineering, support, knowledge management, customer success and sales.
- Vulnerability management type
- Complies with a recognised standard, for example CSA CCM v4.0 or SSAE-18 / ISAE 3402
- Vulnerability management approach
- Cloud components are managed through infrastructure as code, using version control, which ensures that configurations are managed and approved correctly. Changes to product features and functions go through an extensive product and engineering lifecycle to manage the requirements, how they are built, how they are communicated and made available to customers - covering product, engineering, support, knowledge management, customer success and sales.
- Protective monitoring type
- Complies with a recognised standard, for example CSA CCM v4.0 or SSAE-18 / ISAE 3402
- Protective monitoring approach
- Our Security Operations Centre (SOC) uses a SIEM platform to continuously monitor IT and cloud environments, including endpoints, servers, applications, and cloud workloads (Azure, GCP, AWS). Logs and telemetry are aggregated, normalized, and correlated to detect anomalies, threats, and suspicious activity in real time. Alerts are reviewed by security analysts and integrated with incident response processes, EDR and SIEM tools to ensure timely investigation and mitigation. Threat intelligence feeds enrich events, and automated dashboards and reports support compliance and audit requirements. This approach provides continuous visibility, rapid detection, and structured response across all systems.
- Incident management type
- Complies with a recognised standard, for example, CSA CCM v4.0 or ISO/IEC 27035:2011 or SSAE-18 / ISAE 3402
- Incident management approach
-
"1. We utilize pre-defined ITIL processes for common and critical events. When multiple incidents share a root cause, we initiate a ""Problem Ticket"" to link related issues. This triggers escalation to Development and notifies Regional Heads and Escalation Managers. For critical incidents, a ""War Room"" is established under a dedicated Critical Incident Manager.
2. Users report incidents via our support portal, live chat, or phone. We collect a Minimum Data Set to categorize by priority and type. " - Post-quantum cryptography secure
- No
Secure development
- Approach to secure software development best practice
- Conforms to a recognised standard, but self-assessed
Public sector networks
- Connection to public sector networks
- No
Pricing
- Discount for educational organisations
- Yes
- Free trial available
- Yes
- Description of free trial
- We offer a free 30 day Cloud only Filter trial based on pre-set criteria agreed in advance, if achieved, an order would be placed. Situation dependent, we may require a full deployment with architecture completed to allow you to roll into your live deployment.
Discount percentage by annual call-off contract value (excluding VAT)
- Less than £250,000
- 0%
- Between £250,000 and £500,000
- 0%
- Between £500,001 and £1,000,000
- 0%
- Between £1,000,001 and £2,500,000
- 0%
- Between £2,500,001 and £5,000,000
- 0%
- Over £5,000,001
- 0%
Non-mandatory Standards and certifications
- ISO/IEC 27001 certification
- Yes
- Who accredited the ISO/IEC 27001
- NQA
- ISO/IEC 27001 accreditation date
- Monday 8 April 2024
- What the ISO/IEC 27001 doesn’t cover
- N/A
- ISO 28000:2022 certification
- No
- ISO 9001 certification
- Yes
- Who accredited the ISO 9001 certification
- NQA
- ISO 9001 accreditation date
- Monday 8 April 2024
- What the ISO 9001 doesn’t cover
- N/A
- Quality management systems (QMS)
- Yes
- CSA STAR certification
- No
- PCI certification
- Yes
- Who accredited the PCI DSS certification
- SecurityMetrics
- PCI DSS accreditation date
- Friday 10 January 2025
- What the PCI DSS doesn’t cover
- N/A
- Cyber essentials
- Yes
- Please provide your Cyber Essentials Certificate Number
- E9fd5f85-7cd1-4ff2-aba9-6f9f5f225b1b
- Cyber essentials plus
- Yes
- Please provide your Cyber Essentials Plus Certificate Number
- 181966c9-f0aa-42ed-9271-d1b111bdf43b
- Other security certifications
- Yes
- Any other security certifications
- Security Standards dependant on the vendor solution
Social value
- Section B - Commitment for Future: Delivery
-
-
Mission: Kick start economic growth. To secure the highest sustained growth in the G7 - with good jobs and productivity growth in every part of the country making everyone, not just a few, better off.
Policy Outcome 1: Fair work: That offers fair wages and good working conditions. Help people get a job, stay in work, and progress in their careers, with good employment opportunities across the country. Notes: Where there is a large proportion of labour costs in the contract, commercial teams should consider MAC in Outcome 1 as a priority
- New apprenticeships on the contract workforce in the relevant area that meet the criteria set out in MAC 1b
- Providing opportunities for, and measuring and monitoring of, staff workforce conditions over time, including employee engagement, involvement in decision-making and satisfaction and adapting to any changes in the results, with clear processes for acting on issues identified
- Plans to engage the contract workforce in deciding the most important workplace issues to address
- Ensuring new workers are informed of their right to join a trade union
- Monitoring of employee engagement rates (by protected characteristic) and, where necessary, the development of actions to ensure all voices are heard across the diversity of the workforce
- Employment contracts that reflect actual hours worked; steps taken to ensure employees understand their contracts and have the ability to review and adjust them if actual hours regularly exceed contracted hours
- Activities that support an environment where staff are educated about, and feel empowered to, address their physical wellbeing
- Activities that support an environment where staff are educated about and feel empowered to report and address bullying and harassment
- Offer a pay and leave entitlement to all eligible staff who become kinship carers, ideally equivalent to statutory adoption pay and leave
- Payment of more than the National Minimum Wage or National Living Wage (as appropriate) to the contract workforce
- Monitoring and reporting of gender and ethnicity pay gaps and plans to address them where necessary
- Entitlement to sick pay for the contract workforce, with provision in place for any staff who do not meet the earnings threshold for statutory sick pay, payment of sick pay from day one of absence and payment of staff on the contract workforce who are off sick a replacement income of 100% of their usual earnings for as long as possible
- Plans for an appropriate income replacement policy for staff who are required to spend time away from work to care for a sick dependent or close relative
- Understanding of in-work progression issues affecting the market, industry or sector relevant to the contract, and in the supplier’s own organisation and those of its key sub-contractors
- Measures to support in-work progression to help people in the contract workforce, to move into higher paid work by developing new skills relevant to the contract
- Support for the contract workforce by providing career advice, and providing opportunities for staff working on the contract with in-work progression career development into known skills shortages or high growth areas
- Support for educational attainment relevant to the contract, including training schemes that address skills gaps and result in recognised qualifications
- Volunteering opportunities for staff
- Understanding of the modern slavery risks and issues affecting the market, industry, sector or country (of origin or of source) relevant to the contract, and the workforce in the supplier’s own organisation and those of its key subcontractors
- Outline policies and practices to be applied to or put in place for the contract to mitigate and manage modern slavery risks, including: Pre-employment checks, recruitment practices. Workplace conditions, safeguarding plans and processes in place and regular monitoring with relevant groups considered, which may include sampling
- Means of influencing staff, suppliers, customers, communities and/or any other appropriate stakeholders with respect to modern slavery risks relating to the contract
-
Mission: Kick start economic growth. To secure the highest sustained growth in the G7 - with good jobs and productivity growth in every part of the country making everyone, not just a few, better off.
Policy Outcome 2: Skills for growth: Supporting growth sectors and addressing skills gaps.
- Understanding of employment and relevant skills issues, and of the education and training issues relating to the contract. Illustrative examples: demographics, skills shortages, new opportunities in high growth sectors, geographic/local community and skills/employment challenges
- Support for educational attainment relevant to the contract, including training schemes that address skills gaps and result in recognised qualifications
- Activities to support relevant sector related skills growth and sustainability in the contract workforce. Illustrative examples: careers talks, curriculum support, literacy support, safety talks and volunteering
- Delivery of apprenticeships, supported internships and T Level industry placement opportunities (Level 2, 3 and 4+) in relation to the contract
-
Mission: Kick start economic growth. To secure the highest sustained growth in the G7 - with good jobs and productivity growth in every part of the country making everyone, not just a few, better off.
Policy Outcome 3: Resilient, innovative and flexible supply chains: Support economic growth through enabling resilient businesses, opportunities for small businesses and voluntary, community and social enterprises
- Understanding of the types of businesses in the market and the level of participation by new businesses, entrepreneurs, start-ups, SMEs, VCSEs and mutuals
- Activities to identify opportunities to open up sub-contracts under the prime contract to a diverse range of businesses, including new businesses, entrepreneurs, start-ups, SMEs, VCSEs and mutuals
- Plans for engaging a diverse range of businesses in engagement activities prior to appointing subcontractors (including activities prior to award of the main contract and during the contract term)
- Ensuring accessibility to contracting and subcontracting opportunities for disabled business owners and employees
- Support for community-led initiatives relevant to the contract. Illustrative examples: improving transport links; reducing loneliness; helping with English language proficiency; and facilitating social mixing among people with different backgrounds
-
Mission: Make Britain a clean energy superpower: To cut bills, create jobs and deliver security with cheaper, zero-carbon electricity by 2030, accelerating to net zero
Policy Outcome 4: Sustainable procurement practices: Reducing carbon footprints, minimising waste, and promoting the use of clean energy and green technologies.
- Understanding of opportunities for additional environmental benefits delivery in the performance of the contract, including working towards net zero carbon emissions and use of clean energy and green technologies
- Collaborative ways of working with the supply chain to deliver additional environmental benefits in the performance of the contract, including working towards net zero carbon emissions and use of clean energy and green technologies
- Delivery of additional environmental benefits through the performance of the contract, including working towards net zero carbon emissions and use of clean energy and green technologies
- Understanding of how to influence staff, suppliers, customers, communities and/or any other appropriate stakeholders through the delivery of the contract to support climate and nature protection and improvement
- Activities to reconnect people with the environment and increase awareness of ways to protect and enhance it
-
Mission: Break down barriers to opportunity: By reforming our childcare and education systems, to make sure there is no class ceiling on the ambitions of young people in Britain
Policy Outcome 6: Employment and training: For those who face barriers to employment
- Understanding of employment and skills issues, and of the skills and employment shortages of high growth sectors relating to the contract
- Creation of employment opportunities particularly for those who face barriers to employment, such as prison leavers, care leavers and/or who are located in deprived areas, and for people in industries with known skills shortages or in high growth sectors
- Delivery of training schemes and programmes to address any identified skills gaps and under-representation in the workforce for the contract (e.g. prison leavers, care leavers, kinship carers, disabled people)
- Understanding of the issues affecting the representation of disabled people in the workforce in the market, industry or sector relevant to the contract, and in the supplier’s own organisation and those of its key sub-contractors
- Collection of the views and expertise of disabled people and their representative organisations on successfully supporting disabled employees or applicants
- Inclusive and accessible recruitment practices, and retention-focused activities, including those provided in the Guide for line managers on recruiting, managing and developing people with a disability or health condition
- Introducing transparency to pay and reward processes
- Offering a range of quality opportunities with routes of progression if appropriate, e.g. T Level industry placements, students supported into higher level apprenticeships.
- Working conditions which promote an inclusive working environment and promote retention and progression
- Other measures to provide equality of opportunity for disabled people and those with health conditions into employment, including becoming a Disability Confident employer and inclusion of supported businesses in the contract supply chain
- Understanding of the issues affecting inequality in employment, skills and pay in the market, industry or sector relevant to the contract, and in the supplier’s own organisation and those of its key sub-contractors. Measures to tackle inequality in employment, skills and pay in the contract workforce
- Inclusive and accessible development practices, including guidance for line managers on recruiting, managing and developing people with a disability or health condition
-
Mission: Break down barriers to opportunity: By reforming our childcare and education systems, to make sure there is no class ceiling on the ambitions of young people in Britain
Policy Outcome 7: Creating a pipeline of opportunities: For the contract workforce, reducing barriers to entry for under-represented groups.
- Understanding of the issues affecting the development of new skills by target cohort
- Understanding of the underlying factors affecting improvements to reduce barriers to entry and training schemes for the target cohort(s) related to the contract workforce
- Other measures to offer development opportunities for the target cohort(s) in the contract workforce
- Understanding of issues relating to entering the contract workforce
- Creation of outreach activities to create a pipeline of employees for the future contract delivery
- Content of the outreach activity is designed to suit the target cohort
-
Mission: Build an NHS fit for the future: That is there when people need it; with fewer lives lost to the biggest killers; in a fairer Britain, where everyone lives well for longer.
Policy Outcome 8: Increasing productivity through physical and mental wellbeing: In the supply chain and communities in the relevant area.
- Understanding of issues relating to health and wellbeing, including physical and mental health, in the contract workforce
- Understanding barriers to access to health and social care services or employment opportunities e.g. digital inclusion
- Inclusive and accessible recruitment practices, development practices and retention policies that support-focused activities including those provided in the Guide for line managers on recruiting, managing and developing which support people with a disability or health condition
- Actions to invest in the physical and mental health and wellbeing of the contract workforce
-